Going Home
by TVfan
Summary: Nineth in series The final battles of the Beast Wars on Earth begin as the Maximals prepare to begin capturing Megatron and his followers. They also begin the final preperations to figure out what must be done to go home.
1. Chapter 1

-1Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.

Note: This story takes place one week after "A Different War".

Going Home

By TVfan

**The Ark**

Optimus struggled to free himself from the large cuffs that had been put around his wrists and ankles. He tried to extend his limbs and break the energy binds that held the cuffs together, but all he got as a result was a fairly powerful electric shock. One which made him gasp for breath. He looked up when he heard amused chuckling coming from in front of him. Apparently, Rattrap and Depthcharge had arrived to watch him.

"Is there something you find funny, Rattrap?" Optimus asked in a very serious voice.

"Just you wrestling with those cuffs," Rattrap answered with a grin, "You trying out to be the Maximal version of Houdini?"

"Hardly," Rhinox answered as he came out from around Optimus, "We're trying to develop a restraining device that we can use on Megatron's more powerful transformers."

"Restrain?" Depthcharge asked, "This is a war."

"I refuse to allow a campaign of annihilation," Optimus answered firmly, "Megatron stole the golden disks from the Maximals. He must stand trial. If most of the Predicons are killed and Megatron is captured alive, we will have at least accomplished our mission."

Rhinox then undid the cuffs that were holding Optimus.

"Besides, this could be our last real shot to end the Beast Wars," Rhinox answered, "With no base to operate from, Megatron can not attack us n the ways that he did before, and may simply have to assault the Ark."

"Which he can't do all out because it would risk damaging the original Decepticons that are in stasis lock with the Autobots," Rhinox continued, "If they're deliberately pulling punches, we might be able to get these restraints on a good many of them."

"So, do they work?" Rattrap asked.

"Well," Optimus sighed, "I can't break them, so I'd assume they'd hold even the strongest Predicon, at least until we could get back to Cybertron."

"And how will we get back to Cybertron?" Depthcharge asked skeptically, "They aren't looking for me, and with my ship at the bottom of the sea, I can't fly it out and make contact. And since both the Axalon and the Darkside have been destroyed, the ships that they are looking for, no longer exist."

"Blackarachnia has been looking around the Ark for anything that might be usable," Optimus answered, "If we can't find a ship to use, we'll at least find enough materials to build one. The Ark's transwarp cell is still functional."

There was a brief moment of silence as Optimus thought for a moment.

"And even if we can't get off of the planet, we still need to find a way to deal with Megatron," Optimus answered, "We can not allow his evil to continue."

"Hopefully we can capture him easily then," Rattrap answered.

"You can do what you want with Megatron," Depthcharge growled as he walked off, "X is mine."

Optimus only sighed.

**Nemesis**

"Any sign of Maximal advance?" Megatron asked in a firm voice.

"No, Royalty," Inferno answered, "There have been no Maximal parties head in this direction."

"I don't think they even suspect that the Nemesis physically survived the crash when Rampage brought it down," Spine commented, "And therefore think that we are alone and without anything to use as a base."

Megatron smiled from the new command chair that he occupied.

"Good," Megatron smiled, "That will help us in the long run."

"I don't see how sitting here helps," Nightwing grumbled, "We must crush them and especially the Maximal Tigerhawk for betraying the original Tigerhawk."

Megatron looked down on the former Vok acolyte, now one of his warriors. While he was not necessarily trustworthy, as Megatron could tell that his only real support for the Predicons was the fact that they were against the Maximals whom had taken Tigerhawk as a member. Which meant that once Tigerhawk was destroyed, Megatron might have to destroy Nightwing to protect his interests. But, for now Megatron counted the raven transformers fire to be an asset.

"And that will be done," Megatron answered, "But the Maximals believe us to be weak and without a base. Which means they are likely to have small scouting parties out there. Our mission will be to hunt those scouting parties and destroy them while they are in small groups."

"I want Tigerhawk," Nightwing demanded.

"If you find him he is yours to destroy," Megatron nodded, "If he is found by someone else, they can capture him and bring him here. You can then destroy him at your leisure."

"Good," Nightwing answered.

Megatron nodded and then continued to explain his plan.

"Once we've removed enough Maximals from the equation, and preferably their transmetal twos, with he exception of Optimus Primal," Megatron continued, "Who will probably find some way to survive until the very end, we will attack the Ark directly, take it by force and end the Beast Wars."

"What about the threat to the Decepticons in the Ark?" Spine asked.

"I assure you, Optimus will either come out or let us in if it looks like the damage done to the Ark looks like it damages its occupants," Megatron answered, "Victory will take time, but the Beast Wars will not end until I have won."

**Standing Stones**

Tigerhawk landed with Airazor, Whiteout, and Silverbolt on the roof of the old Vok base.

"You're sure that the blank stasis pods that the alien Tigerhawk took can be recovered?" Airazor asked.

"Of course," Whiteout answered, "The original Tigerhawk intended somehow to recreate Optimus Primal for experimentation purposes after he 'won' the war. Now that the original is gone, that plan is defeated."

"But why would he need all of them if he's only going to reactivate one of us?" Silverbolt asked.

"Probably to make sure that neither you or the Predicons could use them," Whiteout answered, "again, things have changed, but why are you needing to find them now?"

"We'll need them to go home," Silverbolt sighed, "If they're left behind and they somehow manage to survive the many coming centuries before the Autobots and Decepticons wake up, we could end up leaving rather advanced technology to fall into possibly evil human hands or worse, the Decepticons."

"But they are just little ape like things now," Whiteout replied, "How could humans become evil?"

"Our present is this planet's distant future," Tigerhawk answered, "humans will evolve into a very complex creature with both good and evil tendencies."

Whiteout could only nod.

"So, are the blank stasis pods here?" Silverbolt asked.

"No," Whiteout answered, "But the monitoring equipment that was left behind should allow us to detect where the original Tigerhawk left them, that is if Nightwing didn't take it to Megatron already."

The group slowly followed a maze of passageways to find the former Vok nerve center to be fully intact. Nothing appeared to have been moved, and a lot of the equipment appeared to be left on.

"Well, everything appears to be here," Whiteout answered, "Which is good. Now to see if I can track down the missing blanks for you."

**The Ark**

"Ungh," Blackarachnia groaned, "of all the Maximals on this planet I get stuck working with you."

Rattrap frowned as he turned to look at the transmetal two spider transformer. The two had been assigned to go through the Ark and find what would be needed to either construct an escape ship or at least find a ship that they did not know of on the Ark. So far they had only come across parts which might be useful in the long run, if they were to work to build a ship.

"Don'tcha want to go back to Cybertron?" Rattrap asked.

"If it means being left alone without you and without Megatron, then yes," Blackarachnia answered.

"But with bowser boy to keep ya company, am I right?" Rattrap asked in a deliberately teasing voice.

"Shut up," Blackarachnia growled, "Your taunting still doesn't answer my question. I have all he codes to the Ark's systems and doors, including those we haven't opened yet. Your engineering expertise is not needed. Why are you here?"

"One, if we have to build something, I will be needed," Rattrap countered, "The Ark ain't gonna just make us a ship."

Rattraps red optics then narrowed.

"And, I'm making sure that you don't decide to betray us in some way shape or form," Rattrap spoke in a very serious voice.

"You think that little of me?" Blackarachnia questioned, "When you pal around so much with Dinobot?"

"Dinobot's actually switched sides and changed all his codes," Rattrap answered, "You're still running around with all the Predicon codes. And that smells suspicious to me."

"The only thing here that stinks is you," Blackarachnia sighed as she opened the door to another room.

**Elsewhere**

Depthcharge flew in vehicle mode over the mountainous cliffs that stood above the coastline. He had left the base to resume his hunt after Rampage, whom he still referred to as Protoform X. So far there was no sign of the transmetal crab. His search was stopped however, as a voice interrupted him.

"Is something wrong, sir?" came Cybershark's voice from the ground.

Depthcharge looked down to se Cybershark and Squeak standing along a cliff trail above the ocean below them. He sighed and slowly landed, knowing that the mouse transformer could not fly.

"What are you doing here?" Depthcharge demanded.

"What Optimus told us to do, sir," Cybershark answered, "We are scouting to find out where the Predicons are keeping themselves hidden."

"What are you doing out here?" Squeak asked.

"I'm taking care of old business," Depthcharge answered.

"What could be old business that brings you out here?" Squeak asked curiously.

The voice that answered, however, was not Depthcharge's and made the small female transformer jump.

"His 'old business' would be me, I think," came Rampage's voice as the transmetal crab stepped out from behind a sharp turn on the mountain path.

Depthcharge looked at his nemesis with a great deal of surprise as he had no warning that Protoform X was anywhere near him.

"How could you be here?" Depthcharge demanded, "My scanners are set to find you."

"That only works when a device that blocks your sensors isn't in play," Rampage 'smiled' as he pulled out a small hand held device from behind his back.

Rampage then readied his rocket launcher to fire on the thee Maximals. Each Maximal readied their weapons as well.

"You can't fight all of us," Cybershark said firmly.

"That's why I brought friends," Rampage smiled back again.

Depthcharge looked around to see Waspinator and Stingfin fly over the side of the mountain behind them. Stingfin landed and transformed while Waspinator remained in robot mode, hovering over them. Depthcharge's optics narrowed in both anger and frustration.

"You aren't the only ones hunting small groups of the opposite faction," Rampage said triumphantly, "And I'm going to enjoy killing you."

**To the Far North**

Silverbolt squinted as they flew over a long expanse of tundra. Whiteout had lead the group further and further north. He guessed that he had traveled farther then when he had been sent to activate the other stasis pods.

"You're sure the blanks are still there?" Silverbolt asked.

"If what we read back at the standing stones is accurate, they should be," Whiteout answered, "and the original Tigerhawk struck me as one who wouldn't deliberately lie about something."

They flew on for a few moments until they approached an area where the snow looked like it had been piled up, as if something was buried underneath it. Whiteout landed and transformed to his robot mode. The others landed behind him while Whiteout brushed some of the snow away.

"They're still here," Whiteout announced, "Nightwing must not have thought to tell Megatron about these pods."

"Good," Tigerhawk nodded, "the tricky part is now to make sure that Megatron doesn't notice us taking these pods to the Ark."

"But wouldn't he know that these are the last and that there aren't any more to find?" Whiteout asked.

"Maybe," Tigerhawk answered, "but he might use it as an excuse to directly assault the Ark."

"We should worry about that after we get these pods ready for transport," Airazor cut in, "Unless we're going to make multiple trips, each carrying one pod."

Silverbolt and Tigerhawk quickly produced the high tension ropes and wires they were carrying. Airazor then began helping the two of them arrange the ropes and wires in a way that they could easily carry the blank stasis pods. Whiteout, meanwhile, slowly began digging the blank pods out of the snow that they were buried in.

"I don't suppose I could ask why the original Tigerhawk felt he needed to bury all these blanks out here?" Silverbolt asked, "I mean, wouldn't it be easier to have kept it closer to his base?"

"I don't know," Whiteout replied as he loaded the first blank pod onto the carrying device that they had assembled, "the only logical answer would be to say that it was to prevent either the Maximals or the Predicons from taking them from him while he attempted to attack their respective bases, but we were all under the impression that you didn't know of our arrival, so that sort of explanation seems rather illogical. If someone doesn't know of an enemy's presence, why would he raid that enemy's base?"

"The original Tigerhawk was under the control of the Vok aliens and directly controlled," Tigerhawk answered, "There are a lot of things about them that we will never know."

"It's good that he did do things this way," Airazor commented, "If they were closer to where the Beast Wars are going on, Megatron might have found them and found some way to activate them."

"Like the way the new Scorpinok and Terrorsaur were activated, with only part of another transformer's spark," Silverbolt commented.

"And a bad situation regardless of how it happens," Whiteout nodded.

**The Ark**

"Restraints?" Dinobot gave a growling question as Optimus and Rhinox presented their new strategy for defeating the Predicons, "Do you think Megatron is wasting time with trying to restrain us?"

"I'm not saying that this should be our sole effort," Optimus sighed, "but we don't have to annihilate them to win the war."

"I've told you before that Megatron's goal is to annihilate us," Dinobot answered, "We weaken ourselves if we do not maintain the readiness to destroy them in battle."

"Using these restraints allows us to claim a moral high ground," Rhinox argued, "That we value life over death. Besides, in some way, wouldn't it make us appear to be even more powerful warriors if we defeat an enemy without killing them?"

"That is provided that the enemy is not so dishonorable that he would do something underhanded that would allow us to suffer after victory," Dinobot answered, "Megatron is dangerous enough that he is too dangerous to be kept alive."

Optimus sighed heavily, "You're probably right in that regard, but he needs to be brought to justice in some way. If we destroy all the Predicons, you will be the only one left who was present for the original theft of the Golden Disk. The Maximal elders will demand that someone stand trial for the theft, and given your service with us, I would prefer that it isn't you."

"Your elders will not care about that," Dinobot gave a growling sigh, "Even if Megatron is captured alive, my fate will be the same as his. It is partially why I would actually wish to remain here when you leave."

"But there is nothing here," Rhinox answered, "Once the Predicons are defeated there will be nothing to threaten the Ark."

"We do not know that," Dinobot answered, "Besides, our history tracts of Earth indicate that the humans will have multiple struggles against people of dishonorable natures. Perhaps I can help them."

"You can't do that," Optimus answered, "You know that the humans are likely to attack you first. Our own history tracts even indicate that there were a great many who didn't like any transformer when the Autobots and Decepticons became known to the human population."

"You will do too much trying to defend me," Dinobot responded, "Your elders will see to it that I… serve the time I probably deserve for my part in Megatron's original scheme. If I remain here, it will be exile, but still freedom for me, and freedom for you to allow your elders the return of their Disk."

"If we can capture Megatron alive, you should have nothing to worry about," Optimus answered, "He is the one who is truly responsible. I'm even somewhat tempted to let the other Predicons under his command go free within the Predicon alliance if it means making sure that Megatron is brought to justice."

"Justice would still be better served by terminating him," Dinobot spoke, "He is dangerous and will only cause you trouble later. That is my opinion."

"It will be noted, but my strategy remains unchanged," Optimus answered firmly, "Megatron is to be captured alive."

"Understood," Dinobot gave a growling sigh, showing that while he would follow orders, he still did not like them, "and I would still prefer to remain here."

**Elsewhere**

Depthcharge growled as Waspinator, Stingfin, and Rampage fired on him and the group of Maximals that were with him. The three of them then ducked behind a few small boulders, but that provided little, if any, cover as the three Predicons began to fire on them from three sides.

"I really don't want to die here," Squeak whimpered as she hunkered down.

Depthcharge produced his shark blaster and began to return fire against Rampage while Cybershark fired after Stingfin. His shots managed to get Rampage to duck back around the corner and create a brief moment of peace.

"Aim for Waspinator's wings," Depthcharge ordered the female mouse transformer, "His armor is bound to be weaker there and is more likely to make a mistake without his wings to help him."

Squeak fired a few shots, but Waspinator managed to dodge them and fired a series of darts down on the female transformer. Luckily for Squeak, most hit the rock she was hiding behind and the one that didn't hit that, went wide. This didn't make her feel any better as most of the rock had now been destroyed and she had little cover left.

"I got get some better cover," Squeak commented to herself and then rushed back along the path that her group had been walking on, firing at Waspinator as she went and trying to ignore the sound of rocks falling to the ocean below the cliff that the battle was taking place on.

"Oh, mouse-bot make this easy!" Waspinator announced and dove after her.

Squeak fired wildly and rapidly at her pursuer, nicking him a few times, but still missing the transmetal two wasp's wings. They did manage to distract Waspinator long enough that he wasn't able to fire on her immediately. After sprinting along the path for about a hundred yards, and turning around several sharp turns, Squeak came across another small set of large rocks. She quickly dove behind them as two darts hit the ground where she had been standing.

Squeak looked up to see Waspinator zoom over the rocks she had dove behind. Apparently he had built up too much speed to stop and fire at her again. Squeak took the opportunity to fire on Waspinator again. This time, her shots found their mark and hit Waspinator's wings. The shots didn't destroy them, but the Predicon wasp found himself out of control and spiraling toward the earth away from the battle.

"Why is it always Waspinator?" Waspinator cried out as he spiraled out of sight in a voice that had earlier been triumphant, to one that sounded completely defeated.

Cybershark, meanwhile, charged at Stingfin when he saw Squeak run to find better cover. The sound of the loose rocks falling didn't bother him all that much as he had the ability to fly in beast mode thanks to anti-gravity thrusters which allowed his beast mode to 'swim' through the air as if it were under water. His charge was to make sure that Stingfin couldn't fire on Squeak and make it easy for Waspinator. Stingfin fired a few poison tipped darts, but Cybershark managed dodge them, or at least deflect them.

As he got close, Cybershark readied to missiles in a miniature missile launcher that he was carrying and fired them directly at Stingfin. The missiles hit the Predicon in the chest and allowed Cybershark to deliver a flying kick that sent Stingfin to the ground.

"Your ambush as failed," Cybershark growled as he then shot away Stingfin's blaster, leaving the transformer unarmed.

Stingfin, unarmed and now at Cybershark's mercy returned to beast mode and flew off.

"Rampage will kill you all on his own!" Stingfin warned as Cybershark watched the Predicon flee.

Cybershark turned back to the original battle to see Depthcharge and Rampage wrestling with each other and fall of the cliff into the ocean. Depthcharge made sure that Rampage hit the ocean floor after the passed quickly through the surf. He hoped the blow would be enough to leave the 'immortal' Predicon so badly wounded that he could easily destroy him. Rampage easily recovered and threw Depthcharge off of him.

"Fins, if that was the best you can give, then I'm afraid that you can not win," Rampage said with a laugh.

"I'm just getting started!" Depthcharge growled and grabbed on of Rampage's arms and then threw the transmetal crab out into deeper water.

Depthcharge then swam after Rampage with the full intent of finishing off the Predicon that had wiped out the colony he had been guarding. As he got closer, however, he felt something sharp and somewhat energized cut into his armor. He landed to see that his armor had been sliced open as if it were nothing. He then turned to see Rampage standing a few feet away holding a long shard of raw energon.

"Great place for a final battle," Rampage commented, "When those aliens seeded this planet with energon, they didn't know much about the cooling properties of water. I've found pockets of raw energon deposits throughout the ocean depths."

"Since when are you a scientist?" Depthcharge asked.

"I'm not a scientist," Rampage answered, "But knowing that water cools things is rather common knowledge."

Rampage then slashed at Depthcharge with his shard, forcing Depthcharge to dive away.

"And knowing that energon crystals in this state can be effective at cutting through anything, including your transmetal armor, is also common knowledge," Rampage added triumphantly.

"It's also more volatile," Depthcharge pointed out.

"Yes," Rampage smiled, "but I heal easily."

Rampage then swung his improvised weapon at Depthcharge again, forcing the transmetal manta ray to roll away along the ocean floor. When he stopped rolling he found another shard of energon laying on the ocean floor. Seeing Rampage coming, Depthcharge grabbed it and blocked Rampage's attack with his shard of energon. Depthcharge managed to kick Rampage away and get up. He then raised his energon blade in a formal salute, which Rampage didn't return.

Rampage attacked again, but now prepared, Depthcharge easily deflected the blow and slashed at Rampage's midsection. Rampage barely winced as he felt his own armor being sliced open. He answered by unleashing a powerful swing that would slice Depthcharge's blade in half if the Maximal tried to block it. Depthcharge only backed off and then tried to stab at Rampage's shoulder. Rampage caught the blade with his other hand and ignoring the blade's cutting into his fingers, held it in place.

"Pathetic!" Rampage laughed.

"Shut up!" Depthcharge growled back and punched Rampage in the face, knocking him backward.

Depthcharge then in a quick move attacked the hand that Rampage was using to hold up his blade. While the Predicon was still stumbling backward, he made solid contact and the hand, and Rampage's weapon were sliced cleanly off.

"You think that will stop me?" Rampage screamed, the pain still evident in his voice and kicked Depthcharge in the side of one of his knees, forcing the Maximal to fall over, "Do you?!"

Depthcharge lunged forward before Rampage could grab his blade of energon with his one remaining and knocked the Predicon a good five feet back. He then readied his blade as if it were a spear.

"No, but it did give me time to finish you," Depthcharge said firmly and threw the shard of energon through the water.

Off balance from Depthcharge's earlier attack, Rampage could do nothing to nothing to deflect or get out of the way of the incoming piece of energon. He screamed in pain and agony as it went straight through his chest, ad what followed hurt worse. The energon seemed to be reacting with either his spark or his internal circuitry, which he knew couldn't be good.

"Raw energon, straight through your twisted spark," Depthcharge spoke triumphantly, "That will be the final end for you and punishment for all the innocents you slaughtered for your own amusement."

Depthcharge began to swim away while Rampage continued to scream in agony and began to try and pull the shard of energon out of his chest. Unfortunately that speeded up the reaction that had been slowly building.

"What do you suppose is going on down there?" Squeak asked as she and Cybershark looked down at the surf where Depthcharge and Rampage had vanished.

"Probably still fighting," Cybershark answered, "I think the two of them have some history with each other, but I didn't want to be a bother. Depthcharge always seems rather touchy."

Squeak couldn't answer as a sudden explosion erupted from the ocean's surface a little further out to sea, sending a geyser of water into the air. Once the waters calmed they saw bits and pieces of metal float to the surface. All of it appeared to be purple transmetal pieces of Rampage, but one of Depthcharge's fins was among the wreckage.

"Oh no," Squeak gasped as she saw the bits of wreckage.

Cybershark also looked down and then saw something else approaching the surface. Both jumped in surprise when a heavily damaged Depthcharge walked into the shallows at the bottom of the cliff.

"If one of you could give me a lift up, we can head back to the Ark," Depthcharge called up, "I'm going to need a CR chamber."

**The Ark**

Rattrap in frustration punched the siding of one of the walls of the hallway that he and Blackarachnia where in. They were still a long way off from finding anything that might be truly useful.

"I don't think that anything is in that wall that will be of use," Blackarachnia commented.

"Would you stop sounding so calm," Rattrap growled, "We've checked every place that I can think of on this ship and we still haven't found anything that might help."

"Then perhaps you'll have to build something," Blackarachnia smirked back.

"We don't have the tools to build anything," Rattrap sighed, "There has to be someplace in this ship that we haven't checked."

"But as you said, we've checked everything that is mentioned in the history tracts," Blackarachnia pointed out, "There can't be anything else."

"We don't know that," Rattrap argued, "There may be some areas that the history tracts missed."

"And how do you plan to test that theory?" Blackarachnia asked, "The only ones who might know are the ancient Autobots and Decepticons that are onboard the ship, and we have no capacity to wake them up."

"Well, there's got to be some way," Rattrap answered as he leaned against one part of the wall, not realizing that his hand was resting on a control panel.

The panel then activated and the wall that Rattrap was leaning against slid back revealing a room that they hadn't checked and Rattrap fell to the ground with a loud grunt.

"Nice one," Blackarachnia said with a laugh.

"Not funny," Rattrap answered, trying to hide his embarrassment.

"Well, at least it proves there are sections of the ship that we haven't explored," Blackarachnia commented as she walked in while Rattrap pulled himself to his feet, "I guess you were right, this time."

"Hey, I'm right a lot of the time," Rattrap answered defensively.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Blackarachnia replied, "Let's see what you found."

The transmetal two black widow spider then flicked the lights on and looked toward the center of the room.

"Well, I'll be surprised tonight…" Blackarachnia gasped.

"Oh my stars and bolts, we're going home!" Rattrap cheered in excitement.

**To be Continued…**


	2. Chapter 2

-1Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.

Note: This story takes place one week after "A Different War".

Going Home, Chapter 2

By TVfan

**The Ark**

"I can't believe it," Optimus spoke as he stepped into the last room that Blackarachnia and Rattrap had searched.

"Yup," Rattrap spoke, "We were going room to room, and here it was. It's always in the last place you look."

Blackarachnia gave a disapproving sigh, wishing she could get out of spending time in Rattrap's presence.

"You two did well," Optimus answered, "I didn't think you would find a whole shuttle, but here it is!"

"This whole ship is strange," Blackarachnia spoke, "There are no records in any of the history tracks, Maximal or Predicon of there being a shuttle onboard the Ark."

"There are no records of the Beast Wars in our history tracks either," Optimus pointed out.

"That's because the Beast Wars are our present," Rattrap said back, "They're going on right now."

"But chronologically speaking we are in what is our past and Earth's prehistoric past," Rhinox answered, "It is a great irony. Our present is both simultaneously taking place in our time and here in Earth's past. It actually proves many theories that Maximal and Autobot scientists have about time over the years."

"What? That it's possible to go sideways, as well as backwards and forwards in time?" Rattrap asked.

"No, more that time can not truly be altered," Rhinox answered, "The theory is that time flows in a set pattern that we determine as we go and record it once it has past. The main point of the theory is that once an event has happened, it can not be altered."

Rattrap, Blackarachnia, and Optimus looked at the Maximal's chief scientist with a look of confusion.

"It would mean that the entire Beast Wars was meant to happen, as well as the Great War which technically preceded it in terms of history," Rhinox answered, "According to their theories, nothing can change the past."

"But Megatron is trying to change history," Blackarachnia pointed out, "and was very nearly successful when he first found the Ark."

"As I said, it is only a theory," Rhinox answered, "And one that is debated. I personally believe that with the ability to travel back and forward in time with the Transwarp Drive, it is possible to change the future, but it could still be possible that there is truth in both theories. There may be no records of a shuttle on the Ark because took it to Cybertron in our time before the Autobots and Decepticons woke up to start the Great War."

"Either way, it is a way home," Optimus answered, "Now all we need to do is finish our 'dealings' with Megatron."

**The Nemesis**

"I don't know which is worse," Megatron growled, "The fact that Rampage was destroyed or the fact that only his team managed to make contact with any of the Maximals."

"I'm sorry boss, but we couldn't find any," Quickstrike whimpered, "Maybe they think we've all been destroyed and are lounging in the Ark?"

"As much as would like to think that they are being lazy, I highly doubt it," Megatron growled back, vocally showing his displeasure, "Even if many of them think that the 'war' is over, Depthcharge and Dinobot are still among the Maximal ranks."

"But Depthcharge had grudge against Rampage," Inferno asked, "Wouldn't he leave the Maximals now that Rampage has been destroyed."

"Despite his apparent mistrust of Primal," Megatron answered, "Depthcharge is probably like any other Maximal. With no ability to leave Earth otherwise, it is likely that he will remain with the Maximals, and fighting us may now become his means of escaping direct service for Primal."

"Then we shall have an excellent opportunity to destroy him!" Scorpinok answered, "If his rivalry with Primal still stands, he might take his missions alone."

"Perhaps," Megatron answered, "But our primary effort needs to be on inflicting heavy losses on the Maximals, an effort that you failed to do."

"We'll try harder, boss," Spine said with a sigh.

"Good," Megatron answered, "Because we need to inflict heavy casualties on them if we are to win the Beast Wars."

"What is your command, Royalty?" Inferno asked.

"We are to continue our ambush operations," Megatron answered, "We will continue to make random patrols of the territory that is halfway between our base and the Ark. The Maximals will likely step up their efforts to find us after this recent engagement, which will mean that we will at least get more opportunities now to find them."

**The Ark**

Silverbolt and the stasis pod recovery team landed at the Ark to find the doors closed, as the computerized defenses had been left online to guard the ship for the moment. He quickly moved to help Airazor open the doors to allow Tigerhawk and Whiteout, who were carrying the stasis pods that they had recovered from where the alien Tigerhawk had left them.

"Hopefully there has been some progress getting everything ready to go home, including capturing the remaining Predicons," Tigerhawk commented as they walked into the Ark.

Deeper inside the Ark, Rattrap and Rhinox were working on preparing to get the Autobot shuttle that had earlier been found for the return trip to Cybertron. Like the rest of the Ark it was built to hold something closer to the size of the Autobots and Decepticons and would easily fit all of the Maximals and Predicons inside it. They were now double checking everything that would need to be done before it would be ready to leave.

"Yah know, this thing may be large enough to hold everybody, but uh, how are we gonna keep the Preds from doin' anything?" Rattrap asked, "They didn't exactly put brigs in shuttles you know."

"We may just have to lay them down with their binders on," Rhinox answered, "We can't waste time building a 'brig'."

"So when Meg's breaks free, he can just launch us into chaos while we're still in space?" Rattrap asked.

"The bindings I made will hold him," Rhinox answered, sounding rather hurt and annoyed that someone would thing that his inventions didn't or wouldn't work.

"It's nothing personal or anything, and I mean no disrespect to your skills, Rhinox, but Megs always manages to have something up his sleeve that helps him escape or at least win some battles," Rattrap answered, "Remember when Ravage first showed up. Despite the fact that I rightfully thought the guy was bad news, he at least wanted to off Megatron at the time, and somehow, that guy managed to persuade Ravage, not only to free him but to join him. Megs will do something that we didn't anticipate and will break free."

"Do you always look at the bright side, Rattrap?" Rhinox asked, realizing that the transmetal rat was just using his intense sense of pessimism.

"I'm just tryin' to be realistic," Rattrap answered, "past experience has taught me that being overly hopeful or dismissive of potential problems is dangerous, no matter what the situation."

"The cuffs are linked to our own radio signals," Rhinox answered, "They will activate on the detection of a Predicon energy signature."

"And suppose Megatron decides to change his codes?" Rattrap asked, "If only to get out of the codes. Dinobot's energy signature reads as a Maximal on all our scanners despite the fact that he came online as a Predicon."

"That's because we altered all our scanners to recognize him as a Maximal by identifying his cybernetic DNA and his spark rather then merely recognizing his activation codes," Rhinox answered, "Optimus will also have to request that similar changes be made throughout the Maximal network when we get back to Cybertron."

Rhinox then sighed for a moment, "simply switching activation codes won't do it. Megatron's cybernetic DNA would give him away as well as his own spark's energy signature."

"And you have all that on file?" Rattrap asked.

"Optimus has had me working on this ever since the Beast Wars began," Rhinox answered, "It wasn't easy work, especially considering all the other stuff I've had to build, fix, or invent."

"Okay, I trust ya, but I'm still holding my biggest gun when we take the Preds back to Cybertron," Rattrap answered.

"Let's check the engines," Rhinox spoke, deciding to drop the conversation, "It's the only thing we haven't checked in here."

The two then made there way into the rear section of the shuttle. The engines were all in perfect working order, but there was a slight problem.

"There's no transwarp drive," Rattrap said in a very surprised voice, "Why doesn't it have a transwarp drive? The technology, or at least the earliest versions of it existed when the ancient Autobots were around."

"They must have only used shuttles for short trips," Rhinox answered, "although it looks like we can easily install the Ark's transwarp drive cell."

"Making sure it can get these sublight engines to work right is another story," Rattrap commented, "Most mechanics generally overhaul the entire engine if they were faced with something like this and install an engine designed to use a transwarp cell. Modifying a sublight engine to do that is dangerous and risky."

"We don't have any other choice, and you know it," Rhinox answered.

"You think they might be in this area?" Optimus asked as Cybershark and Squeak delivered their report, while looking at a projected map on a display screen.

"That's where Waspinator, Rampage, and Stingfin attacked us," Cybershark answered, "I can only assume that there the rest of the Predicons are operating in that general area."

"And Depthcharge destroyed Rampage?" Optimus asked as he glanced back at the CR chamber behind him.

"That's what he said," Squeak answered, "Although he was so badly damaged that we couldn't truly check to make sure."

"There was a lot of Rampage's body among the wreckage though that floated to the surface immediately after the explosion, and his body didn't come up to the surface the way Depthcharge's did, so he's probably dead, though," Cybershark added.

Optimus looked back at the CR chamber that Depthcharge had been placed in when they had returned to the Ark and sighed.

"To be honest, I hope so," Optimus answered, "What Rampage did to Depthcharge really was something that shouldn't even happen to the worst of the Predicons. It really changed him, maybe now, he will be different. Back to the way he was before."

Cybershark was about to say more when Silverbolt entered with Airazor.

"We've recovered the stasis pods that the alien Tigerhawk hid," Silverbolt reported, "Tigerhawk and Whiteout are busy taking them to the main control chamber, where the old Autobots and Decepticons are."

"I'd better get to them quickly before they set them all down," Optimus spoke quickly, "Rattrap and Blackarachnia found an Autobot shuttle that we can use. We'll need to take the pods there."

**Conference Room, the Next Day**

Optimus sat down at the end of a long table as the rest of the Maximals gathered around it to prepare for the latest briefing on what would need to be done to finish the war.

"We are going to continue our patrols to find where Megatron is hiding," Optimus spoke to begin the meeting, "and as I ordered before, our primary emphasis is to capture and arrest at least Megatron. Rhinox has recently perfected the cuffs that will be needed to insure that the Predicons do not cause us any further trouble."

Optimus paused as he watched the others nodded. Optimus then continued with his briefing.

"In the meantime, we have uncovered an Autobot shuttle here in the Ark," Optimus continued, "It s imperative that we move the rocks that cover the Ark so that the shuttle can take off."

"Remove the rocks?" Blackarachnia asked, "Primal do you know how many tons of rock are sitting on top of the Ark? It would be easier to renovate the interior and move the shuttle outside."

"Those are my instructions," Optimus answered, "Besides, considering that the Ark is sitting on a volcano, we would have to move the shuttle quite a long ways away in order to safely launch it. The Ark itself would at least be able to buffer the effects of the shuttle's engines starting from upsetting the volcano."

"So who will be assigned what jobs?" Stagstripe asked from his seat.

"Dinobot will take a small team to scout for whatever location Megatron is using as a base," Optimus answered and then turned to face the transmetal two raptor, "and I leave the membership of that team up to him."

"If this mission is only a scouting mission, I should only need Rapther for assistance," Dinobot answered.

Optimus nodded, and then continued with his briefing, "Rattrap and Rhinox will be busy working to prepare the Autobot shuttle for the return journey to Cybertron."

"We might need some help other then just the two of us," Rhinox spoke, "Either in getting ideas for some of the possible problems we will face or at least providing us with and extra set of hands."

"I can help with any technical problems you will have, and Silverbolt can provide the extra set of hands," Blackarachnia volunteered.

"That's good," Optimus nodded, "The rest of us will be moving rocks, but we need to be prepared to deal with the Predicons should Dinobot and Rapther find where Megatron is hiding."

**Later**

Dinobot and Rapther slowly made their way over the same are that Cybershark and Squeak had earlier been sent to patrol. They stopped once they got to the area where the battle had begun. Dinobot looked up at the top of the ridge above them an began looking for a way to scale the rock face.

"So, out of curiosity, what will you do when we return to Cybertron?" Rapther asked as they climbed up to the top of the ridge.

Dinobot scanned the open ground that seemed to head toward a forest in the distance.

"Is this really the time?" Dinobot growled back, "I chose you alone because you have a warrior's skill and knowledge that mindless chatter in battle is dangerous."

"It will be several miles before we reach that forest and we're in the middle of very open terrain," Rapther answered, "We'd see a Predicon or would be seen by one before they have the chance to hear us."

Dinobot only gave a growling sigh, knowing that she was right. The ground they were on was very flat and open before it moved into the forest, which was a long way off.

"You didn't answer my question," Rapther asked, "What do you intend to do once we return to Cybertron?"

"I do not intend to return to Cybertron," Dinobot answered.

"What?!" Rapther gasped.

"Your Maximal elders will prosecute me just as they will Megatron," Dinobot answered, "And I would be dishonored, as I never should have joined with Megatron in the first place."

"But you've done just as much to stop Megatron as any of the others," Rapther answered, "If it weren't for you, I might have been activated as a Predicon."

"Acts of dishonor are never undone," Dinobot answered, "And governing laws do not accept the mitigation of honorable acts. The Maximal elders will view my actions in helping Megatron steal the Golden Disk as unforgivable. I will suffer the same fate as Megatron."

"So what do you intend to do?" Rapther asked, "Return to the Predicons?"

"No," Dinobot answered, "The Maximal elders will imprison me for stealing their relic. The Tripredicus Council will have me executed for treason. I intend to remain here.

Find some new honorable venture to carry on."

"Your spark would naturally extinguish over the years before any sort of 'honorable venture' would come," Rapther answered, "You could volunteer to train warriors for the Maximals. To be prepared if anything threatens peace in the galaxy."

"The Maximals do not have warriors," Dinobot answered, "Even if I am not punished, Cybertron holds no world in which I will fit. Where does a warrior fit when there is no war for him to fight? No glory to be won in battle? No conquest to win? No wrong to be righted? No enemy to be thwarted. I would not fit in on Cybertron and I would think that you could understand that."

"I can understand that much, but there are outposts and colonies that the Maximals have," Rapther argued, "Not all of which are in the safest parts of the galaxy. You can defend them. Either way, that would be a better solution then just remaining here and expiring before the first organized human civilization even forms."

"I take it you agree with Optimus in wanting me to return to Cybertron then?" Dinobot growled.

"Yes, although for reasons other then what Optimus would have," Rapther answered, "And I will fight to the very end of my being to see that you are not just simply punished for one mistake."

"A true warrior does not feels such feelings," Dinobot answered and looked toward the forest, which was now getting closer.

"It is not dishonorable to feel them at the right times," Rapther answered back, "And you could stand to feel them during times when you are not in battle."

Dinobot gave a growling sigh and then continued walking. Rapther only growled back and followed. As they entered the forest, they still, had not found any sign of Predicon activity. They did find that there were plenty loose boulders and the terrain was becoming much more varied, and both raptors became more alert as to monitoring their surroundings.

After about an hour of searching they came across something that looked most unnatural.

"This looks as though something crashed through here," Rapther commented, looking at a deep groove in the earth and a series of bent over trees.

Dinobot looked at the bent over trees which looked like a letter 'v' the longer he looked at it. His red optics then narrowed at the sight of the damaged earth.

"What do you suppose did all of this?" Rapther asked as she looked around.

"The only thing that could have done this would be the Nemesis," Dinobot answered, "But Rampage destroyed that ship."

A missile then suddenly came out of nowhere, and both Dinobot and Rapther were forced to dive behind some of the piled up earth to avoid being hit by it. When the looked over the mound of earth and rocks, they saw one transmetal two scorpion crawl into the gorge created in the earth and a tansmetal two pterosaur come down to a low altitude to hover above it.

"Actually," Scorpinok answered, "Rampage only crashed the Nemesis. It won't fly again, but it is still in one piece."

"Which is more then we can saw for you!" Terrorsaur added in triumph and fired his optics lasers at the two Maximals.

Dinobot and Rapther rolled away and watched as Terrorsaur's optics cut a tree that was near them in half. It fell to create a strong barrier between them and the two Predicons.

"You deal with Terrorsaur," Dinobot ordered, "I will deal with Scorpinok."

"Divide and conquer?" Rapther asked back.

"Divide and conquer," Dinobot nodded.

Rapther then stood up and unleashed a long volley of rockets at the hovering Terrorsaur. The rockets hit the Predicon in the chest and forced him back a few feet. This gave Dinobot the time to leap over the fallen tree and land a flying kick into Scorpinok's chest, taking the other Predicon to the ground. He raised is powerful sickle-like talons and prepared to use them to slice Scorpinok's head off of its shoulders, but the transmetal two scorpion managed to lift one claw up and Dinobot only cut his enemy's weapon's systems in half. Scorpinok then kicked Dinobot and scrambled to his feet.

Scorpinok then looked up at Terrorsaur who was still trying to avoid repeated barrages of Rapther's rockets.

"Destroy the female!" Scorpinok ordered, "I will deal with this one."

"Roger," Terrorsaur answered and zoomed off to try and get a better firing position on the female transformer.

Once Terrorsaur was on the other side of the fallen tree that Rapther was using for cover, he then showered the area with shots from his own blaster. Rapther dove away to prevent taking any direct hit, but the shock waves that were the result of the explosions of Terrorsaur's shots threw her forward. As she got to her feet, she found that Terrorsaur was only preparing to fire again.

"What? You're not going to come down here and fight me face to face?" Rapther challenged.

"And give away my advantage?" Terrorsaur answered back, "Not in your life!"

Terrorsaur fired again, which Rapther leaped to avoid. The blast hit the stump of another nearby tree, causing it to topple over. Rapther noticed this, smiled to herself and ran off into the maze of trees.

"Have it your way," Rapther taunted the pursuing Predicon.

"You're short one claw," Dinobot spoke, "You'd best surrender."

Scorpinok only lifted his tail and fired a precision missile directly at Dinobot. The resulting explosion threw him against the side of the trench that they were in, and Scorpinok added to that with two missiles from his other claw.

"I'm short one claw, but I'm certainly not out of the fight," Scorpinok answered.

"External armor damaged 89, circuitry protecting spark at 97," Dinobot's internal computer spoke as Dinobot ran a quick diagnostic.

Dinobot silently cursed. Most of the damage was done by missile that doubled as Scorpinok's stinger. While cutting off one of Scorpinok's claws reduced the Predicon's firepower, it did not remove the transmetal two scorpion's most powerful weapon. With Rapther dealing with Terrorsaur at the moment, there was no way he could defeat Scorpinok without killing him, at least not in his mindset. He then quickly focused on Scorpinok's tail, which the Predicon was holding still, as if preparing to fire another missile.

"You will regret not having surrendered," Dinobot growled and fired his optic's lasers at full power.

Scorpinok ducked, expect the shot to be aimed at his head or chest, and then screamed in pain as Dinobot's lasers hit the tail missile he had just loaded and as a result of the exploding missile and laser blast, destroyed most of his tail. Dinobot then lunged forward and sliced at Scorpinok's arm with his claws again. He did leave a deep gash, but in his attack did not cut the arm off of the shoulder and allowed Scorpinok to raise that claw and fire at Dinobot's back.

This time, Scorpinok's shots did not do as much damage in one shot as the Predicon's first volley had. As Dinobot recovered, however, he found that Scorpinok had rushed quickly to the top of the trench and made it impossible for Dinobot to easily charge again. Scorpinok hit Dinobot again with two missiles from his remaining claw and knocked Dinobot down. Dinobot answered by firing his optic's lasers at Scorpinok's chest. The blast pushed Scorpinok back and into a nearby tree, but didn't do much more in terms of visible damage.

Dinobot then leaped out of the trench, crouched low and swung one leg around to trip and bring Scorpinok back to the ground as the Predicon tried to get up. When Scorpinok tried again, he swung one of his taloned hands down in a powerful arc and sliced open the armor on Scorpinok's chest. In his pain, Scorpinok fired a missile directly into Dinobot's chest and threw him back several feet.

"Now to finish this," Dinobot growled as he pulled himself back onto his knees and saw that Scorpinok was practically standing over him, with a missile prepared to fire.

"Don't move if you know what's good for you," Scorpinok ordered.

Dinobot wasn't sure what to make of this. Scorpinok was obliviously ignoring great pain, as his last attack revealed the Predicon's spark chamber, yet he was willing to stand directly face on of the Maximal's better warriors. He admired the bravery, but again frowned on the stupidity.

Dinobot then fired his optic's lasers right into the slash he had just made across Scorpinok's chest. The laser energy easily penetrated into Scorpinok's spark chamber, and the Predicon, screaming with pain, was thrown back several feet until he hit a tree and exploded.

"One down," Dinobot sighed, "Diagnostic."

"External armor damaged 78, circuitry protecting spark functioning at 85," his diagnostic computer answered.

"Now to finish off the other one," Dinobot grumbled and began to walk in the direction that he had last seen Rapther move in.

Rapther moved quickly as Terrorsaur fired on her from above and behind. The Predicon's shots destroyed trees as Rapther deliberately ran by them. Her plan was to have Terrorsaur damage a large tree and then have it fall over on him, but so far, most of the trees were too small to hold Terrorsaur down and on top of it, fell the wrong way, and opened up the Predicon's line of fire.

"I'm gonna catch you!" Terrorsaur said jubilantly.

Rapther finally arrived at a large tree that might fall on Terrorsaur when he would hit it. She stopped so that when Terrorsaur fired, the shots would hit the bottom of the tree and fall toward the charging Predicon.

"And it's going to be easy," Terrorsaur smiled and fired every weapon he had at the Maximal femmebot.

Rapther quickly dove away and let her trap to its work. Terrorsaur's fire destroyed the bottom of the tree and it quickly began to fall forward into the transmetal two pterosaur's flight path. The Predicon found himself going too fast to stop himself, and he flew right into the trunk of the tree, which pined him to the ground. Rapther then destroyed Terrorsaur's discarded blaster with a round of rocket fire.

"Now, who's going to catch who, now?" Rapther asked.

Terrorsaur tried to free himself, but found he couldn't lift the trunk of the tree and decided to buy time by at least driving Rapther off. He fired his optics lasers at her, but the Maximal only ducked down, and pulled out her tail whip from where it was coiled up on a 'hook' built into her back. Rapther then slung her whip, so the energon charged tip made a strong 'crack' right across Terrorsaur's optics. It didn't destroy the Predicon's optics, but it did put his optic's lasers offline.

"Will you surrender now?" Rapther asked.

"Never!" Terrorsaur vowed, swinging his fists wildly.

"You have no weapons and are pinned under a fallen tree," Rapther pointed out, "and you have no reinforcements. We are under orders to capture any Predicon we come across, if at all possible, although I'm sure that Dinobot has already killed Scorpinok."

"Suppose Scorpinok won?" Terrorsaur asked.

"He didn't," Dinobot answered as the transmetal two raptor appeared in beast mode, in order to perform internal repairs.

"Will you surrender now?" Rapther asked, "Dinobot and I have no necessary problems with killing you if you keep fighting."

Looking up at Rapther's confident face with sharp metallic teeth showing and Dinobot's glowing red optics, Terrorsaur decided that with no help nearby, it was better to surrender. He hoped they wouldn't kill him anyway, and held out his hands to be cuffed. Rapther pulled out a pair of the specialized cuffs that Rhinox had produced and placed them on Terrorsaur's wrists.

"I'll hold him and you push the tree off of him," Rapther ordered while placing her hands on Terrorsaur's shoulders, insuring that he didn't get up and run away.

Dinobot nodded and moved to push on the fallen tree with all his might. It was difficult for him in his beast mode, but after several minutes of grunting and digging into the ground with his feet, the tree was finally pushed off of Terrorsaur. Rapther then lifted the Predicon into the air and pointed him back in the direction of the Ark.

"Now, march, slowly," Rapther ordered, "We'll keep our weapons trained on you if you run."

**The Nemesis**

"Ah, Waspinator like monitoring duty," Waspinator sighed with contentment, "Not shot once."

"Your luck will run out if you have nothing to report," came Megatron's voice from above him as the Predicon tyrant jumped down from his throne to monitor Waspinator's work.

Waspinator gulped and pointed to his screens.

"Just following Scorpinok and Terrorsaur's progress in investigating some energy signal," Waspinator answered.

"Then why do I see two Maximal energy signatures leading one Predicon energy signature away from our base?" Megatron growled, slamming Waspinator on the head with one of his fists, "And you failed to alert anyone of any Maximal presence near our base?"

"Scorpion-bot not report as Maximal," Waspinator answered with an obvious whimper, "Only report as energy signal."

"Rally the other teams and send them to Terrorsaur and Waspinator's last known coordinates," Megatron ordered, "I want to know which was destroyed or damaged and which was captured. If one is damaged, bring him back here to be healed. One is destroyed, salvage his parts for use in defending the Nemesis."

"Yes, Megatron," Waspinator whimpered.

Megatron, meanwhile, turned and left the new Predicon command center. Things were going bad and he knew it. With Rampage already destroyed losing Terrorsaur and Scorpinok, one destroyed, one evidently captured made his situation worse. He was losing his vanguard force with which he needed to crush the Maximals. Waspinator and Inferno were his only remaining transmetal twos, other then himself, and he had no regular transmittals to at least help them. There was also the fact that of his two other transmetal twos, he would only trust Inferno in a fight. He might need to draw on the Nemesis's shear firepower and lure the Maximals into an attack, but that seemed to stink of desperation in Megatron's mind.

**The Ark**

Optimus and the other Maximals had removed a large amount of rock that had covered the crashed Autobot starship. They had only done enough so that only the very top of the Ark was visible and they still had a lot of work to do uncover the rest of the ship.

"Hey, bigbot," Cheetor called over to Optimus, "Dinobot and Rapther are on their way back, and they got a guest."

Optimus looked up to see Dinobot and Rapther forcing Terrorsaur to march before them. He also noticed that the transmetal two pterosaur was wearing Rhinox's new cuffs.

"Did you find where Megatron is hiding?" Optimus asked as they got close.

"Not exactly, but we believe we've found what might lead us to that location," Rapther answered.

"It is possible that the Nemesis structurally survived the crash that was caused by Rampage's attack on Tarantulus," Dinobot explained, "Megatron has likely found it and is using it as a base."

"What? The Nemesis exploded when it crashed," Optimus replied.

"That may have only been dirt being thrown into the air by the Nemesis's crashing," Rapther informed the Maximal commander, "We found a rather deep groove in the Earth, and the Nemesis could be the only thing to cause it."

"Is Megatron using the crashed Nemesis as a base?" Optimus questioned Terrorsaur.

"I've only agreed to surrender myself as a prisoner," Terrorsaur answered, "I will not help you defeat Megatron."

"He's been like that since we took him prisoner," Dinobot reported.

"Well, if you're right in your report," Optimus sighed, "It means we might finally be able to win the Beast Wars once and for all."

**To Be Continued…**


	3. Chapter 3

-1Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.

Note: This story takes place one week after "A Different War".

Going Home, Chapter 3

By TVfan

**The Nemesis**

"All the weapons are in place, royalty," Inferno reported, "The new colony is a death trap for any of the Maximals."

"Good," Megatron sighed as he sat on his throne, "Now we'll at least we'll be ready for when the Maximals attack."

"Why do we not go after them directly?" Nightwing demanded, "Destroy them, instead of hiding here."

"We are not hiding," Megatron growled, "We are waiting. At present the Maximals have us at a tactical disadvantage an a strategic stalemate. Thanks to the Vok invasion I lost most of the crashed stasis pods that were so hard to find. The Maximals, meanwhile, suffered lighter casualties and just recently killed or captured three of my most powerful servants. Attacking them directly would be suicide."

Megatron then pivoted his throne so that he could look out the Nemesis's bridge window into the surrounding countryside.

"Right now, Optimus is planning his return home to Cybertron," Megatron continued, "But he won't leave without me, no. He will try to enforce his idiotic notions of justice and honor on me and return with us as his prisoners. It is therefore a point of strategy that we make him come to us. Then we can only hope that the weapons we have added to the Nemesis's already formidable arsenal will be enough to destroy so many Maximals that our forces will be balanced enough that we stand a real chance of winning."

"What if they haven't found the Nemesis yet, though?" Stingfin asked, "If they haven't we can still ambush their search parties."

"If they were still searching, we would be doing that," Megatron answered, "But with the destruction or capture of Scorpinok and Terrorsaur, we can only assume that the Maximals have at least found the trench that leads to the Nemesis."

There was a pause for a moment or two as Megatron sighed.

"And that means that Optimus is likely to have one of his extremely rare aggressive moods," Megatron finished.

**The Ark**

Terrorsaur struggled as best he could, but the energized binders he had been put in were more then enough to keep him from even standing up, let alone escaping.

"You can struggle all you like," Rapther spoke from behind him, "But you won't escape."

"I will try," Terrorsaur vowed, "That way you have to remain here and guard me."

"You can't stand up," Rapther pointed out as she threw the Predicon in the Ark's brig for the moment, "and you will remain as you are. You aren't going anywhere."

Terrorsaur let you a scream of rage as Rapther activated the energy cells that would act as extra insurance against an escape attempt. The transmetal female raptor then left the room.

Optimus, meanwhile stood in the main conference room with the rest of the Maximals present. Many were fairly surprised by his announcement.

"Attack the Nemesis?" Airazor asked, "I you sure about this, Optimus?"

"We have to bring Megatron and the other Predicons in before we can leave Earth," Optimus answered, "If we don't, he'll destroy Optimus Prime the instant we leave."

"Still, an attack seems rather aggressive," Airazor commented.

"Sometimes that is the only way to win a war," Dinobot growled from his position, "And it is not like you would be committing an act of evil in attacking Megatron's lair."

"But it could kill a good many good people," Airazor argued.

"That's the part that has me nervous," Cheetor spoke up, "I'll agree that we don't have any other choice in going after Megatron if we want to go home, but the only way we beat Tarantulus's plan with the Nemesis was to sneak Rampage inside and crash the ship. Getting into the Ark was hard enough when we first found it, what makes you think we can fight our way into the Nemesis, especially if it's crashed and half buried?"

"There has to be an entrance somewhere in the ship, and if not, I will be able to draw enough fire to allow Rattrap to make an entrance for us," Optimus answered.

"Hey, whoa down there," Rattrap answered, "The strongest cutting laser that we have is not going to be enough to cut through the Nemesis's armor. In case you've forgotten, the Nemesis, like the Ark, was poured, not constructed."

"You could blast through it," Optimus offered.

"Oh sure, make repeated trips to place explosive charges in starship armor," Rattrap commented, "Are you trying to get me killed?"

"We'll find a way in," Optimus said firmly, "Otherwise Megatron will maintain a guerilla war against us that we can not truly win if Megatron fights correctly according to known tactics."

"If we can not get in then it will not matter what Megatron does as we will all be sitting targets to the Nemesis's weaponry," Silverbolt commented.

"You all do know there are doors on the Nemesis, right?" Blackarachnia commented, earning several glares.

"The Ark has several entrances and exits built into it, other then those we've used so far," Blackarachnia answered, "The Nemesis is much the same. There are entrances and exits that we can use to get in, and Optimus is right, if we don't do something directly to capturing Megatron, the Beast Wars could very well go on forever with no clear winner. Which would mean you'd never see your beloved Cybertron again."

"Hey, it's not like we're afraid of fightin', it's just that we'd prefer to try something that isn't so dangerous," Rattrap shot back.

"Trust me Rattrap," Optimus sighed, "I feel the same way, but I don't think we have a choice. Either we risk a lot and attack the Nemesis directly, or we risk more by letting Megatron to continue ambushing patrols, and even if there weren't a large number of entrances and exits to the Nemesis, we can beat its security and get inside. We were able to do that with the Ark, after all."

"There is a big difference between the Ark and the Nemesis though," Depthcharge pointed out, "Even if we are successful, this will be a much tougher mission then anything we've ever faced before."

"Maybe, but I hope it is the last battle of the Beast Wars," Optimus sighed, "That way we can all go home."

"Very well," Tigerhawk sighed, "I hope you're right about this."

"Me too," Optimus answered and activated a holographic map of the surrounding area, "Now, Dinobot, where was this trench that you and Rapther found, and are you sure it leads to the Nemesis?"

"I am positive it leads to the Nemesis," Dinobot answered, "The trench is deep and is not a natural formation, and man has not evolved enough for it to be made by humans."

Dinobot then pointed to one point on the map with a talon, "The trench's grove in the Earth itself begins here, although this in the middle of a forest and you can see the damage that Nemesis did to the trees for several hundred yards in this direction."

Optimus followed the direction of Dinobot's talon and sighed, "They've certainly left us with a rather wide open alley with which to follow. Do you think Megatron might have laid any traps?"

"I wouldn't think so, as they would be just as likely to catch Waspinator or Quickstrike as they would one of us," Dinobot answered seriously.

He was about to continue when he heard a series of snickers, mostly from Rattrap and Cheetor, but there were others. Dinobot did his best to ignore it.

"However, if Megatron has made a strong effort to try and lure us into attacking the base I would not rule out he possibility of a trap being laid somewhere along the route," Dinobot finished.

"You and Rattrap can deal with these traps if there are any?" Optimus asked.

"All that can be found, yes," Dinobot answered.

"What about the shuttle?" Rhinox spoke up, turning attention away.

"It's not finished?" Silverbolt asked curiously.

"I've only just begun working on it, let alone being close to being finished," Rhinox answered.

"We're going to need everyone just to make sure," Optimus sighed, "Besides, we still have most of the rocks on top of the Ark to move anyway. There should be plenty of time to get the shuttle ready when this is over."

"We'd best get going," Depthcharge commented, "Megatron could decide to abandon the Nemesis and flee farther away."

There was a deep sigh and the Maximals moved out to prepare for what they hoped was the final battle of the Beast Wars. Those that needed extra weapons gathered them while Rhinox moved to set the Ark's automated defenses online to prevent Megatron from attacking the Ark while they attacked the Nemesis.

**The Nemesis**

"What?" Megatron demanded, "You dare offer advice to me on strategy?"

"Not strategy, tactics," Spine answered, "You've already decided to lure them here and destroy them when they arrive, and have booby-trapped the Nemesis for the expected attack. They would have to attack through narrow hallways to get to the bridge, which is their likely goal. If we keep a 'warrior' or two behind each booby trap, they can deal with the Maximals as they come."

"And be destroyed," Megatron growled, "Needlessly, remember the there are more Maximals then there are of us."

"Not needlessly," Spine replied, "The traps will likely destroy or damage one or two Maximals and the lone warrior behind it will finish those that weren't destroyed off and possibly more, for the very reason that you just put. If the Maximals attack with all of their numbers against us, they can not maneuver inside the Nemesis's narrow hallways, meaning many will not be able to get to cover."

"There are a good many Maximals who will be able to whether the storm of our traps," Megatron answered, "Our forces will remain here to strike them with a single powerful blow, and I will not tolerate any further attempts to replace me, understood."

"Of course," Spine answered weakly and moved toward a different area of the Nemesis's bridge.

"Waspinator no like this plan," Waspinator buzzed from a chair nearby, "Waspinator feel it well get Waspinator blown to pieces."

"There is always the risk of that happening," Spine answered, "That happens in war, but I privately think that sitting here and waiting for the Maximals to arrive will destroy us. We won't be able to charge into the hallway an destroy the Maximals in one fell swoop the way Megatron thinks. We'll get caught in the doorway and destroyed."

Quickstrike's voice cut them all off from their train of thought.

"Hey, boss, I think they've come within sensor range," Quickstrike spoke.

Megatron left his throne and looked at the screen that Quickstrike was monitoring. Sure enough there were several blips at the very edge of the Nemesis's sensor range.

"And the battle begins," Megatron mused and then turned to the others that were present, "Arm all exterior weapons and prepare for attack."

**Outside**

The Maximals moved slowly down the trench that the Nemesis had carved in Earth when it crashed. So far, they had not encountered any planted traps as they advanced toward where the Nemesis had stopped.

"If ol' Megs is wanting to draw us in to attack the Nemesis, I think his plan is rather hap-hazard," Rattrap commented as they kept going, "Or he is confident that the Nemesis's weaponry will be more then enough to destroy us."

"We might not even come under much in the way of fire if the Nemesis is pointed in the right direction," Blackarachnia commented, "According to history tracts, the ship had fewer weapons emplacements near its engines."

"That's the case with every interstellar race though," Optimus commented, "A hit against a ship's armory would be dangerous enough, but if there's a magazine right next to the engine and it is hit, a space battle could be over in a matter of minutes."

"That doesn't mean the Nemesis can be easily entered that way," Tigerhawk warned, "Most likely its entrances are on the sides where its weapons are ready to guard those entrances."

"If we can't get in that way, I'll draw Megatron's fire while the rest of you find a way to cut into the Nemesis," Optimus spoke, "And I want no argument."

After a few moments more they finally came within site of the Nemesis. Much to everyone's surprise, despite the fact that the ship was still in one piece, there was some serious damage that resulted from its sliding along the ground. There were several large metal fragments lying on the ground just behind the ship's engines and there were a few fairly large holes in sides of the ship's armor.

"Finding a way in shouldn't be much of a problem anymore," Depthcharge commented readying his shark blaster.

"What about the wreckage?" Snowstalker asked, "Shouldn't we have seen more of it laying along the trench as we approached? What if this is a trap?"

"Not likely to be a trap," Rattrap answered confidently, "At least the wreckage isn't an indicator of it. Because the Nemesis, like the Ark, was built by pouring hot metal into a set frame, in general, its armor is nearly a foot thicker then most Cybertronian ships today. That makes them a lot tougher then what we have now."

"Not to mention the fact that since it was poured, the Nemesis's hull is essentially all one big piece, not fragments riveted or welded together," Rhinox added, "That means that any collision would have to be of considerable force to even bend the ship's outer hull, let alone break off pieces."

"Despite the damage," Tigerhawk warned, "The ship is probably still very well armed. We must be careful."

"No argument from me," Rattrap answered, "Now which one of those tears in the hull do we go for."

"There's a fairly close one that looks that it will take us directly into the ship," Cheetor commented, "It's about three feet away from where the main engine exhaust vents are."

"It's a good spot," Airazor added, "I don't seem many visible guns, and the structural damage in the area may limit hidden weapons in that area. We might be able to get in while facing only a minimum of enemy fire."

"I'll be drawing most of it, so you shouldn't need to worry about that," Optimus answered and transformed to his 'jet-mode' and ordered, "Now go!"

**Inside**

"They're awfully close, Royalty," Inferno commented as he looked at the sensor screens.

"Yes," Megatron nodded, "It is now time to give them a taste of what they will get in attacking us. Ready all weapons."

The bridge then suddenly shook under the impact of several laser blasts against the Nemesis's armor and sound of powerful engines flying by the bridge area at high speed. This turned all Predicon heads to looking out the main bridge window.

"So Optimus is leading the charge," Megatron smiled, "Target all weapons and fire on him."

Outside, Optimus circled around and made another strafing run against the Nemesis. He took out three more placed laser cannons as he flew by, but saw several compartments open, revealing several rockets and missiles. He quickly glanced down to see that most of the Maximals had made their way in, but there were still a few that had not made it inside yet.

"Now comes the hard work," Optimus sighed to himself as the various rockets and missiles fired into the air.

Optimus dodged several of the rockets easily, but saw that the missiles were directly locked on to him and wouldn't release their sensor lock on him. He quickly dove for the surrounding trees and tried to use their branches to try and distract the missiles. He was successful with one or two missiles, but the rest quickly closed on him as he attempted to fly back to the entrance that the others were using and the resulting explosion threw him into side of the Nemesis. Cheetor and Rattrap quickly came out and pulled him in.

"You okay, Bigbot?" Cheetor asked.

Optimus pulled himself up and looked at the shoulder that the missiles had hit. The armor there was cracked, but not broken.

"About as well as can be expected," Optimus sighed, "At least we're in."

"Now, all we need to do is find the bridge," Silverbolt commented.

"Do you know where to go?" Rhinox asked turning to Blackarachnia.

"Most of what I know comes from either the history tracts or what I managed to steal from Tarantulus," Blackarachnia answered, "schematics of the Nemesis wasn't among them."

"Judging by the missiles fired on Optimus, I'd think that Megatron wants us to march to him," Rapther commented, "We might need to look for booby traps and defuse them as we go. If we find a trap, we'll know we're marching in the right direction."

"That's a great idea, walk right INTO a trap," Rattrap answered, "You raptors got no sense of self preservation don't ya?"

"The only other option is to split up and take different paths and possibly get ambushed or if we walk into a trap by accident, we walk into it alone have no chance of being able to get out," Dinobot growled back.

"I don't think we have a choice," Rhinox commented in a depressed voice, "Without the schematics we have no idea where we are going."

"And we can't afford to get ambushed here if we split up," Optimus added, "But we have to be careful. No one is to get close to any trap, and we're to try and disarm them before they can activate."

"You can't do that with booby traps," Rattrap answered, "You can either avoid them or activate them, but you can't spot and disarm a booby trap."

"They can be destroyed, perhaps," Stagstripe spoke up, "Especially if it's only a concealed laser cannon."

"Hopefully that's all that it is," Rattrap grumbled.

**The Bridge**

"They've made their way inside, sir," Stingfin reported from her position, "I can see them on the security camera images near the main engine housing."

"They can advance down the central hallway to the stairs that lead to the bridge," Jawbreaker spoke.

On his throne, Megatron pressed a series of buttons that would allow him to watch the security cameras. He wanted to watch the Maximal's progress as they advanced. The fact that they had made a bolt to get into the Nemesis concerned him. He had half banked on the Maximals trying to come directly through the bridge windows, which would have exposed all of them to the Nemesis's exterior guns and weaponry. Now, he had to hope that the traps that he had had Inferno place would be enough to seriously reduce the number of Maximals in the attacking party.

He smiled as they reached the first set of traps that had been laid, a series of powerful cluster bombs that practically blinded the screen that Megatron was watching.

**Hallway**

The smoke cleared from the series of bombs that had been planted as a booby trap in the hallway they were in to find that Maximals were still in fairly decent conditions. None of them had been killed by the blast. Optimus pulled himself to his feet and found that while no one was killed, there were some wounded. Stagstripe, Squeak, and Airazor had all suffered some physical damage as a result of the explosion.

"Are you alright?" Optimus asked as he approached them.

"I think I can continue," Airazor commented, "It's not to bad."

"I can still walk, but I think it's knocked my weapon's systems offline," Stagstripe answered, "I don't think I'd be much help in a fight."

Squeak managed to stand, but Optimus could see mech-fluid leaking out of holes on her shoulders and probably also on her back.

"You two need to get back to the Ark and be repaired," Optimus spoke, "Even if you wish to continue, you need to go back. I'm not going to risk anyone who is injured getting destroyed."

"Of course," Squeak choked out.

"Airazor, can you escort them back, make sure they don't get attacked?" Optimus asked.

"Of course, Optimus," Airazor nodded.

They kept plodding along following the main hallway. Megatron's traps were still present, but thankfully, none were powerful enough to destroy any of their victims. It did make Optimus nervous as it was forcing him to send several of his transformers back to the Ark, but he had no other option. By the time they got to the stairs that lead to the Nemesis's bridge, only Dinobot, Depthcharge, Cheetor, Blackarachnia, Tigerhawk, Rattrap, and Rapther were left in addition to Optimus himself. All the others were either damaged or escorting those who were damaged back to the Ark.

"This is it, bots," Optimus spoke as they prepared to ascend the stairs, "The final battle of the Beast Wars."

"May victory be swift and total," Dinobot answered.

"I hope it truly ends the Beast Wars," Cheetor added, "There have been too many instances where we think it's over, and something new and unexpected pops up."

"Let's just go," Depthcharge grumbled, "I don't want to listen to collective memories of the past."

Depthcharge then began to ascend the stairs with his shark blaster ready. The rest quickly followed. As they got to the top of the stairway, they were met by the door opening and a sudden Predicon counterattack. A small lionfish transformer lead the charge and attacked Depthcharge, driving the spines into his armor, knocking him down the stairs before any of the Maximals could be ready. Nightwing fired a series of shots at Tigerhawk and leaped at him. Inferno extended his drills in an attempt to gore Dinobot with them, but the male raptor ducked under them and drove the transmetal two ant back into the bridge area. Waspinator flew into the stairway and fired a series of darts at Rattrap, forcing him to back down the stairs. Spine barreled into Rapther and rolled with her down the stairs. Jawbreaker lunged at Optimus and landed a punch that knocked the Predicon tyrant back.

Cheetor found that none of the others had attacked him and he rushed into the Nemesis's bridge. He couldn't let Megatron escape, and the Predicon tyrant was still seated in the command change. Just as he entered the area, however, Quickstrike jumped down from a ledge above the door and took Cheetor to the floor.

"Gotcha now, ya Maximal wimp," Quickstrike spoke triumphantly hitting Cheetor in the face with a venom blast.

Cringing with pain as the result of being hit at point blank range, Cheetor managed to through the Predicon fuzor off of him. Quickstrike bounced off the armored wall and then struggled to get up. As he raised his snake hand to fire another venom blast, Cheetor hit him in the chest with a power laser blast from his own blaster. That shot sent Quickstrike into stasis lock. Cheetor then turned to Megatron who was still seated on his throne.

Megatron enjoyed watching the fighting that had gone on so far as the Maximals had finally reached the bridge. Quickstrike had attacked Cheetor while Dinobot and Inferno were locked in a fairly ferocious battle. The scene made him smile. His smile soon left when his head was wrapped in webbing. As he tore it off, he looked up to see Blackarachnia sitting in her beast mode on the ceiling.

"Thought this was some sort of free entertainment for you, Megatron?" Blackarachnia asked as she dropped from the ceiling, transformed, and kicked Megatron off of his throne.

"It is," Megatron answered and then blasted Blackarachnia in the face with fire from his dragon's head hand "But one I'm not above entering."

Blackarachnia was still reeling from the burst of flame, Megatron then clubbed her over the head with his other hand taking her to the ground. He then grabbed her in his dragon's head hand and lifted Blackarachnia into the air, bringing her defiant looking optics to a plane level with his.

"I always knew that you spiders would betray me," Megatron growled, "First you joining the Maximals and then Tarantulus, and that is not counting the various times you both betrayed me before the 'discovery' of the Ark."

"Must really irk you that when we have, it's hurt you," Blackarachnia shot back and slashed at Megatron with the claws on her hands.

The attack only scratched Megatron's armor, but didn't do anything more.

"Yes, it did," Megatron answered and began to squeeze on Blackarachnia's head with his dragon's head hand, "and now you will finally feel the full force of my anger!"

Blackarachnia screamed as the teeth in Megatron's dragon head cut through her own armor and blacked out into stasis lock before Megatron could do anymore. Fortunately for the transmetal two female, a powerful blaster shot hit Megatron in the shoulder, making him drop her.

"You're under arrest, Megatron," Cheetor spoke from where he was standing.

"We shall see," Megatron smiled.

Depthcharge kicked the lionfish transformer off of him as he hit the bottom the stairs, send it halfway down the hallway. Stingfin, meanwhile transformed and landed on her feet as Depthcharge struggled to get up.

"Feeling sluggish?" Stingfin asked bravely, "Lionfish are poisonous fish."

Depthcharge got up and blasted Stingfin in the chest with his shark blaster, knocking the Predicon back.

"You've slowed me down," Depthcharge answered, "Don't assume it's made me weak."

Stingfin fired a series shots from her own weapon at Depthcharge, but the transmetal manta ray ducked behind the large wing fins that he had, which deflected the shots to the walls or the floor. Depthcharge then looked to see Stingfin running in search of cover and fired another blast at the lionfish transformer, hitting her in the back and sending her skidding along he floor of hallway they had landed in. Depthcharge then advanced silently. He quickly crushed Stingfin's blaster as he arrived and made sure the Predicon couldn't fire on him again.

"We're under orders to prevent any and all unnecessary deaths," Depthcharge spoke, as he produced a set of the new cuffs that had been made to restrain the Predicons, "You are under arrest."

"Like you arrested Rampage?" Stingfin asked as Depthcharge placed the first part of the cuffs on.

"X had long since gone beyond the point where he could be left alive," Depthcharge answered, "He slaughtered thousands of innocents for no other reason then that t was fun. He was too dangerous to be left alive and the Maximal elders have made routine mistakes in keeping alive. I have fixed those mistakes."

Stingfin struggled, but found she could not break he cuffs and was now a prisoner. Tigerhawk, meanwhile, was engaged in a much more ferocious battle with Nightwing. The raven transformer was furious and he made no effort to hide it.

"You will pay for betraying us!" Nightwing screamed and fired a series of darts into Tigerhawk's chest.

Tigerhawk backhanded the former Vok acolyte, knocking Nightwing back. Nightwing's attacks did him little harm, and Tigerhawk was determined to use as little brute force as possible.

"I am not the alien," Tigerhawk answered, "and the Vok were evil besides."

"Then you will die!" Nightwing screamed and fired another series of shots directly into Tigerhawk's face.

Tigerhawk screamed with pain and slammed the hand that had an electric-charged gauntlet into Nightwing's face. The blow stunned the raven transformer and threw him against the wall above he doorway that he had earlier charged out of. Tigerhawk quickly followed up with a quick burst from his gatling guns, sending Nightwing into stasis lock.

"Ya know," Rattrap commented as he returned Waspinator's fire, nicking the Predicon wasp several times, "I do have to hand it to ya. Ya gotta be either the most loyal or the dumbest Predicon in the bunch."

"Waspinator think that insult," Waspinator commented firing his own stingers back.

Rattrap dodged and rolled and answered, "No, it's honest respect. I mean, you get blown to scrap in every battle, yet you keep coming back. One would think that you'd desert after awhile. Megatron must give you great benefits for you to keep following him."

Rattrap then watched as Waspinator then landed in front of him with all his weapons seemingly deactivated.

"No, Waspinator treated very badly," Waspinator answered, "Dragon-bot curse Waspinator an threaten to scrap him. Waspinator sick being blown to scrap all the time."

Snickering, Rattrap sensed an opportunity to win the fight without really fighting.

"All ya gotta do is give up," Rattrap offered, "Shoot, by giving up, Optimus might be able to see that you get a reduced sentence."

"Waspinator surrender to enemy," Waspinator replied.

"Let me help you get away from the fighting here," Rattrap offered, "Make sure you stay in one piece."

Rapther landed hard on her back as Spine forced her all the way to the bottom of the stairs. The spinosaurus Predicon smiled triumphantly as he looked down on her ad placed a large foot on her chest.

"Do you yield?" Spine asked as he aimed his laser cannon at Rapther's head.

"Never!" Rapther snarled and fired a long barrage of rockets into Spine's blaster, destroying it completely and nearly throwing Spine through the stairs that he had thrown Rapther down.

Rapther then stood up and produced her energon tipped whip. As Spine got to his feet, she used her whip to take his feet out from under him. Spine roared in anger and got up quickly and charged toward Rapther. Intent on tearing her apart with his bare hands, since Rapther's rockets had disarmed him. Spine didn't get far before he was hit in the face by another barrage of rockets and a powerful energy blast hit him in the side. Rapther watched as he fell to the floor in stasis lock. She then looked up to see Depthcharge approaching with Stingfin being dragged behind him.

"You okay?" Rapther asked.

"The Pred's cybervenom is slowing me down a bit, but nothing I can't overcome," Depthcharge answered, "In time."

Optimus flinched with some pain as Jawbreaker, who had swithed back to his beast mode, clamped down on his had as he attempted to grab the Predicon. Jawbreaker had actually proved to be a rather decent fighter and actually relied more on melee attacks then anything else in the close quarters fighting against the Maximal commander.

Optimus, however, wasn't about to give up, and landed a strong kick on Jawbreaker's lower jaw, forcing the Predicon crocodile off of him. Jawbreaker was about to launch an attack, when a pair of feather missiles came down from above him and caused such damage that Jawbreaker fell into stasis lock. Optimus looked up to see Tigerhawk land next him.

"That appears to be all of Megatron's grunts," Tigerhawk commented.

"Come on," Optimus sighed, "There is still have Megatron himself to deal with."

Dinobot had quickly become involved in a shoving match with Inferno. While Dinobot had managed to avoid being impaled on the transmetal two fire ant's drills, Inferno had managed to destroy Dinobot's optics laser with the flame throwers that made up his other hand. Dinobot now struggled to make sure that Inferno couldn't use his weapons on him again.

"You will be food for the colony, traitor!" Inferno spoke triumphantly.

Dinobot tripped Inferno with a quick sweep of his leg and then kicked the insane ant in the ribcage, knocking him against the back of one of the Nemesis's crew chairs.

"You have made such insane boasts before," Dinobot growled, "Spare me the idiocy and fight."

Dinobot then slashed at Inferno with his talons and successfully sliced off part of the arm that housed Inferno's drills. Inferno screamed with pain but fired a fire blast from his other hand and knocked Dinobot into another computer terminal.

"Burn, traitor, burn!" Inferno screamed.

Inferno never got a chance to fire as Dinobot kicked him away and then sliced one of the crew chairs off of it's support bar. Lifting the chair above his head, Dinobot then used it as a massive war hammer and hit Inferno over the head with it. This knocked the insane ant out.

Cheetor fired a second blast at Megatron who avoided it by leaping into the air. While in the air, he switched to his beast mode and fired an ice blast at the transmetal two cheetah. The blast knocked Cheetor to the ground and for the moment froze him there.

"This won't hold me forever!" Cheetor growled back.

"Oh I have no intention of holding you forever," Megatron replied as the he retook his robot mode, "I intend to kill you."

Megatron then began roasting Cheetor with his dragon's head hand. After a minute or two, he heard Cheetor's functions drop into stasis lock, as he had caused to much damage. Megatron kept firing in the hopes of doing enough damage so that not even stasis lock would protect the fallen Maximal. He was prevented from doing so by a large chair being thrown at him, knocking him over. Megatron looked up to see Dinobot approaching him.

"If you're looking for a fight to the death," Dinobot growled, "You will fight me. It is finally time for you to be punished for your dishonor."

Megatron only smiled, forgetting all about the wounded Cheetor, "Very well."

**To be Continued…**


	4. Chapter 4

-1Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.

Note: This story takes place one week after "A Different War".

Going Home, Chapter 4

By TVfan

**The Nemesis**

"I have been waiting for this for a long time," Megatron said triumphantly as he faced Dinobot, and ignoring the stasis locked Cheetor near him, "All the traitors have paid so far. Tarantulus has been terminated. Blackarachnia has been knocked senseless. Now, you the greatest of all the traitors will pay for your crimes."

"My only crime was thinking you had any honor to begin with," Dinobot growled, his optics narrowing and lunged forward.

Dinobot slashed at Megatron's dragon head hand with talons, and managed to nick some of the wires on the underside of the limb, but failed to cut the entire hand off. Megatron cringed with pain as Dinobot's transmetal two talons did their work. He was certain that his armor was stronger then the Maximal raptor's, but the raptor's talons appeared to sharp enough to cut through just about anything. While the Predicon tyrant struggled with Dinobot's initial attack, Dinobot pressed his attack and kicked Megatron into his throne in the center of the bridge area.

"Now, I will finally get the chance to balance out noble acts with my past mistakes," Dinobot spoke in a firm voice.

"Your mistake was betraying me," Megatron snarled and fired out a fire blast from his dragon's head hand.

The attack didn't work well. While a fire blast was fired, it was not as concentrated as it should have been, and Dinobot only ducked down behind the armor around his shoulder. Most of the flames scattered into the air, scorching parts of the roof, floor, and even the walls. It was then that Megatron noticed the damage Dinobot had inflicted on his armor and frowned.

"So, you managed to render my energy weapons to practically useless," Megatron mused, "It is no matter."

Megatron then moved forward that threw a punch that sent Dinobot flying in a series of computer panels and he landed on the floor near Cheetor. He quickly rolled away so that while he was up and moving, Megatron would be too distracted to attack any of the others that he had defeated. Megatron only followed him slowly.

"I am still far stronger then you," Megatron said triumphantly and grabbed Dinobot in his dragon's head hand, "And I will enjoy squeezing the life out of you."

"Enjoy this!" Dinobot raged as he slashed out at Megatron's face with his talons.

Megatron screamed with pain as sparks flew from his face and he released his prisoner to he ground. As he moved his hands away from his face, Megatron found that while Dinobot had done damage, he had not blinded the Predicon tyrant. Dinobot then delivered another powerful punch that made Megatron step back a few steps. While Megatron then struggled to regain his balance, Dinobot prepared to attack again.

Dinobot lunged forward, talons ready and tried to slash at Megatron's chest with them, in the hopes of cutting his way into Megatron's spark chamber. He succeeded in digging them into the outer part of Megatron's armor when the Predicon tyrant grabbed and threw him off. Megatron flinched with pain as he did so. Megatron knew that he had to find away to knock Dinobot out quickly as the Maximal's skill in close quarters combat was far higher then his own.

"I'm growing tired of this," Megatron growled and then shoved Dinobot into the computer paneling nearby.

Megatron then held Dinobot down, insuring that Dinobot would be exposed to the raw power running through the panel. Dinobot screamed with pain as raw electrical energy flooded into his body. He struggled to free himself but Megatron was more then strong enough to hold him down, and after awhile he fell into stasis lock.

"Now to finish you off, once and for all!" Megatron exclaimed.

Megatron was about ready to use his dragon's head hand as a spear and run it through Dinobot when he was hit by two powerful missiles that threw him against a different section of paneling. He looked up to see Optimus and Tigerhawk standing in the doorway looking at the battle scene that was the Nemesis's bridge.

"Step away from him Megatron," Optimus ordered.

"Or what?" Megatron snarled back, "You know full well that if you win your Council of Elders will imprison him for his participation in my theft of the Golden Disks when the Beast Wars began, and that is a fate that a warrior such as he would not care to face."

"And being stabbed in the back while he's unconscious is an honorable death?" Tigerhawk asked as he stepped in, trying to get between Megatron and Dinobot's form.

"It would spare him the later embarrassment and shame," Megatron responded.

With a growl, Tigerhawk moved forward quickly and knocked Megatron back through the heavy glass window that looked out over the exterior of the crashed warship.

"I will drive him away from here," Tigerhawk shouted back to Optimus, "You see that the others are taken care of."

Tigerhawk then flew out of the Nemesis's bridge after Megatron. Optimus, meanwhile slowly made his way into the center of the bridge and looked around. It was then that he found that Cheetor, Blackarachnia, and Inferno also lay in stasis lock on the bridge. He sighed and prepared to get things ready. It was then that Rapther and Depthcharge made their way into the Nemesis's bridge, although Depthcharge looked like he could use some time in a CR chamber.

"Where's Rattrap?" Optimus asked as the other two approached the Maximal commander.

"Waspinator gave up the fight and has surrendered," Rapther answered, "Rattrap is walking him back to the Ark."

"Where's Megatron?" Depthcharge asked.

"Tigerhawk took that battle outside," Optimus answered, "We must get the Predicons that have already been defeated ready to be taken back to Cybertron, and move our wounded back to the Ark as well."

Depthcharge sighed and nodded, "I'll get the ones out in the hall. By the time I'm done, you should be done in here."

"Are you alright?" Optimus questioned.

"It's only a weak dosage of cybervenom, I should be fine," Depthcharge responded.

Optimus only sighed and watched as Depthcharge made his way toward the stairway again. He then turned back to see Rapther pulling Dinobot's body out of the computer paneling that he had been thrown into. Optimus then set to placing Rhinox's new cuffs on Inferno, before the insane ant came back online.

**Outside**

Megatron shifted into his beast mode once he was outside the Nemesis. While his wings allowed him to fly in both his robot and beast modes, he was much better at it in his beast mode. He also found out that in beast mode, his internal repairs quickly did enough to allow him to use his fire breathing abilities again, but only while in beast mode. Tigerhawk came flying out of the crashed Nemesis at high speed and landed a punch that knocked Megatron back several feet through the air.

"Will you surrender now, Megatron?" Tigerhawk asked.

"NO!" Megatron swore violently, "I will never surrender to any Maximal. Not to a scientist like Rhinox or a warrior like Dinobot. I will not even surrender to Optimus Primal, himself. This war will go on until I alone am the victor."

"Fine," Tigerhawk sighed and readied the two missile launchers under his wings.

Tigerhawk then fired his weapons in the hope of taking Megatron out quickly. Megatron only dodged the projectiles and flew around to attack Tigerhawk from behind. He was successful in doing so and quickly sank his fangs into Tigerhawk's neck while using the electric-charge units on his tail to disable Tigerhawk's missile launchers. Megatron then flung Tigerhawk toward the ground. Megatron then took his robot mode in an attempt to crush Tigerhawk when the Maximal fuzor hit the ground.

Tigerhawk did not miss Megatron's actions, however, and fired his mounted gatling guns up at his attacker. The rounds hit Megatron with great force and allowed Tigerhawk the time to roll away and get to his feet. Megatron barely managed to land on his feet on the nose of the Nemesis after Tigerhawk had ruined his attempt to crush the transmetal two fuzor.

From is position, Megatron quickly forced a nearby weapons panel using his own strength and aimed the rocket launchers housed in the compartment at Tigerhawk. He then frantically began playing with the wires behind the rockets, hoping to get a short-circuit that would fire the rockets and hopefully take Tigerhawk out of the fight. In the end, Megatron was in luck and the rockets fired. He cringed silently as the barrage of rockets knocked Tigerhawk out.

"Oh that had to hurt, yes," Megatron smiled in triumph.

Megatron then turned to see Optimus leap from the Nemesis's bridge and stare down his rival and chief enemy. They were silent for a few moments as they each attempted to analyze the other. Eventually, it got the better of Megatron and he challenged the Maximal commander directly.

"Oh well, let's have it," Megatron challenged, "The usual 'destiny and honor' speech."

"Speech this," Optimus growled and landed a blow on Megatron that threw him through the weapon's unit that the Predicon tyrant had employed against Tigerhawk.

Optimus then began to slowly walk forward toward the Predicon tyrant.

"I am tired of having to deal with you, Megatron," Optimus said firmly, "And you've come far too close to killing various members of my faction."

"Ah yes, the Maximal habit of making friends," Megatron answered, "You can at least be glad that you have suffered lighter casualties in the Beast Wars, up until now. The Vok focused their attack on me, when they came here. You all focused on destroying Ravage. I have suffered far more in this war then you have."

"And yet you continue to demand those sacrifices in the name of your own megalomania!" Optimus accused, "It ends here."

"Yes, it ends here," Megatron responded and lunged forward, tackling Optimus, "and I will see to it that my 'megalomania' shapes the galaxy! You will be nothing more then a figment in history."

Megatron then threw a series of punches at Optimus's face, hoping to send the Maximal commander into stasis lock through a blur of physical blows. Optimus, however, was successful in flipping Megatron off of him and throwing him into the raised structure that lead toward the Nemesis's bridge. Optimus then got up and readied his primary weapons and prepared to fire on Megatron.

Megatron managed to avoid the direct hit from Optimus's attack, but the explosion of Optimus's laser projectiles against the Nemesis's armor threw him off balance, and the Predicon tyrant ended up sliding off the side of the massive warship and landing hard on his back next to the ship. Optimus then leaped from his position, and if Megatron hadn't rolled away at the last minute would have crushed the Predicon tyrant's neck by the force of his impact.

Megatron then took his beast mode again and began breathing fire on Optimus, forcing the Maximal commander to stumble back. He then took to the air in an attempt to flee, sensing that the damage he had sustained so far was too much and that if he stayed longer, he would wind up being seriously hurt, if not captured. As he began to fly away he noticed Optimus shift to his jet mode.

"You won't get away that easily!" Optimus yelled after Megatron and began firing his blasters after the fleeing transmetal two dragon.

Optimus continued firing as he landed several hits on Megatron's form, slowing the fleeing Predicon down. After awhile, a shot finally hit Megatron in the back of the head and the Predicon tyrant fell out of the sky. Optimus then returned to his robot mode and began putting the new cuffs on the stasis locked Megatron.

"Finally," Optimus thought to himself as he lifted Megatron over his shoulder, confident that the Predicon tyrant could not escape.

**The Ark**

Rhinox sighed as he was now in charge of all the transformers that had been wounded in the attack on the Nemesis. Some of which were more seriously damaged then others and the distance traveled between the Nemesis and the Ark did not make the fact that they would repairs easier.

"We have two transformers coming in," Silverbolt reported from his monitoring station, "It looks like Rattrap and Waspinator."

"Why is he the only prisoner?" Rhinox asked.

"I'm not sure if 'prisoner' is really the word," Silverbolt answered, "Waspinator isn't wearing any cuffs."

That really caught Rhinox's attention and he moved over to look at the security screens. Sure enough there was Rattrap leading Waspinator to the Ark, and the Predicon wasp was not wearing cuffs or any other sort of restraint.

"You keep monitoring," Rhinox sighed heavily, "I'll check this out."

By the time Rhinox had made it to the entrance to the Ark, Rattrap was just shutting the doors behind himself and Waspinator, who appeared to be curious about his surroundings.

"Where is the shuttle?" Waspinator asked, "Rat-bot said Maximals had a shuttle."

"The shuttle doesn't take up the entirety of the Ark," Rattrap answered, "And you won't be seeing it until everyone is ready to leave."

"At least you're keeping it safe," Rhinox spoke up as he approached, "But why didn't you cuff him?"

"Waspinator kinda got tired of being used as a target by Megatron and quit," Rattrap commented, "and sense Megatron is the one that's been the one controlling the Preds, I figured, even if he isn't 'defecting' to our side, if he quits working for Megs, we can't entirely count him as an enemy."

"Waspinator does not like being shot at," Waspinator added from where he was standing.

"And will 'Waspinator' also not do anything that would be considered 'Predicon' behavior?" Rhinox asked, turning to glare at Waspinator.

"Waspinator behave! Waspinator behave!" Waspinator buzzed back, stumbling back, "Don't shoot Waspinator."

"This is Waspinator, we're talking about," Rattrap whispered, "So long as we keep anything breakable in a place where he can't trip and fall on it, we should be fine. He won't start a fight unless he wants to get blown to scrap."

"Waspinator no start fight," Waspinator said very quickly.

"Fine, but he is your responsibility, Rattrap," Rhinox said firmly, "If he does anything to cause trouble, I'll let Dinobot eat you."

Rattrap only shrugged it off.

"Meanwhile, you can help Silverbolt perform monitoring duties," Rhinox sighed, "While I make some finishing touches on the shuttle."

Time went by slowly for the monitoring crew. While the fact that Waspinator was helping them was somewhat of a surprise to many of the other Maximals, none of them felt particularly threatened by Waspinator either. After about an hour Optimus, Depthcharge, and Rapther returned with Dinobot, Tigerhawk, Cheetor, and Blackarachnia. The four stasis locked Maximals were rushed to CR chambers while Optimus then turned around.

"Depthcharge, I want you to remain here as well," Optimus spoke, "You could probably stand some time in a CR chamber yourself."

"The cybervenom isn't THAT strong," Depthcharge replied, "but if it gets me out of lugging all of those Predicons back here, I'll be fine with it. I'll just guard the CR chambers, just in case Waspinator's defection is just an act."

Optimus nodded and watched as Depthcharge slowly sat down to sit beside one of the CR tanks. Optimus then moved out with Rapther following behind.

"Shouldn't we wait until some of the others are back online?" Rapther asked, "We'll be making an awful lot of trips if it's just two of us hauling 'unconscious' Predicons one at a time."

"We can't leave them alone for too long a time," Optimus sighed, "As individuals, I doubt they could break the cuffs we put on them, as I couldn't break them on my own, but if they work together, they might be able to pick the locks on the cuffs. We have to move quickly."

"Then let's take Rattrap," Rapther urged, "He'll provide an extra set of hands, which will mean fewer trips back and forth between the Nemesis and the Ark."

"And Waspinator will probably follow," Optimus nodded, "We'll need him if we are to take the Nemesis's transwarp cell with us. Go get them. I'll meet you outside."

Ten minutes later, Rapther and Rattrap appeared with Wasipinator following. As they got close, the transmetal two Predicon wasp buzzed right up to Optimus's face.

"Female lizard-bot say you need Nemesis's transwarp cell?" Waspinator asked.

"Yes, we do," Optimus nodded, stepping back slightly, "To make sure that it doesn't explode and destroy a fair portion of the planet."

"Waspinator can lead you to it," Waspinator volunteered.

"Thanks," Optimus replied, and then turned to Rapther and Rattrap, "You can start with the smaller Predicons first. I'll deal with Megatron specifically."

"Right," Rapther and Rattrap nodded.

Megatron had booby-trapped the transwarp cell chamber as well as the main hallways, and when Waspinator lead Optimus in, the Maximal commander was forced to push Waspinator out of the way and use his armor to protect the smaller transformer.

"You saved me," Waspinator commented as he looked up at Optimus.

"The force of that blast would have caused you serious harm, and for the time being we need your help," Optimus answered.

"Dragon-bot never would have saved me," Waspinator spoke.

"I'm not Megatron," Optimus told the wasp transformer.

"Can I stay with you?" Waspinator asked.

"For the time being," Optimus answered.

They then made their way into the main engineering area where the transwarp cell was housed. Optimus took it and put it in a containment unit he had with him.

"What do we do with the cell?" Waspinator asked.

"We take it back to the Ark and then return here for Megatron and the other Predicons," Optimus answered, "there is much work to do."

"Waspinator will help," Waspinator volunteered.

"Thank you," Optimus responded.

The work of moving the defeated Predicons to the Ark to be incarcerated for the return trip to Cybertron took the rest of the day. The Predicons did not take to Waspinator's switching sides or the fact that they had lost the battle very well. There was a lot of screaming and shouting, but all of them, including Megatron himself, were placed inside cells in the Ark and the cuffs still on them. This left the business of planting charges to make sure that the Nemesis could never be used by the Decepticons when the time for the 'Great War' to begin came. In the meantime, there were still things that needed to be discussed at the Ark.

**The Ark, That Night**

"My mind is made up," Dinobot growled as he stalked out of the Ark.

"Why?" Rapther demanded, "What purpose will you serve here? Alone?"

"I would not be enslaved for my past here," Dinobot answered and gazed out over the horizon.

"With no cause to live for?" Rapther asked, "Your spark would burn out before humanity will evolve enough to have honorable conflicts for you to fight for."

"And what would you suggest?" Dinobot growled back, "Go back and be arrested? And if not that, settle down? A warrior doesn't contemplate such things."

"And I told you before, love is not something that is dishonorable," Rapther growled back, "and there is no general requirement to 'settle down'. Cybertron has many colonies that need defending. We could go there, and defend those colonies. Or you could remain on Cybertron and train the younger Maximals who will go out to defend those colonies."

"Your Council of Elders live in a fantasy world where war is forever abolished," Dinobot answered with a heavy sigh, "They will not allow me to live free to do anything, should I return to Cybertron. I will become a burden on Optimus and I can not do that."

"He wants to help you," Rapther urged.

"Yes," Dinobot nodded, "I know that. It shows the honor in his character that he would stand up for a fool such as I. I can not allow him to dishonor himself before his leaders trying to defend one who is guilty."

"But you've done just as much to try and stop Megatron," Rapther reminded him.

"All that does is balance the mistakes I made in originally joining Megatron," Dinobot answered, "it does not change the fact that I have committed a crime. Not legally."

"You were deceived," Rapther said urgently, "Megatron lied and duped you."

Dinobot only growled, "I know that, but takes away a warrior's nobility to admit to that."

"Even if it keeps you out of prison?" Rapther asked.

"I can not live as a fool," Dinobot replied, "I would lose everything I have that is of any value in doing so."

"I didn't think you were the type to cower from other people's opinions," Rapther said pointedly.

"I do not cower from anyone," Dinobot growled.

"You're willing to hide in exile with no purpose to truly stay there because you're afraid that your only legal defense will make others think you're foolish," Rapther explained back, "I call that cowering. It may not be a fight, but apparently something very important to you."

"I'm not vain either," Dinobot growled.

"Sure," Rapther answered back and turned to go back inside the Ark, "Tell that to all the proto-humans while you sit here for a thousand years and do nothing."

Dinobot only glared back to watch the transmetal female raptor go back inside. After the Ark's doors closed he returned his gaze to the stars.

**The Nemesis, Next Day**

Optimus sighed as the Maximals went about planting explosive charges throughout the Nemesis. Most of these explosives came from the Nemesis itself as the Ark didn't have the weapons stocks to sabotage a large warship like the Nemesis.

"You think this will work, Optimus?" Cheetor asked curiously as he paused to place down the last box of charges that the Maximals had at the Ark.

"It must," Optimus shrugged, "There are no mentioning of the Nemesis in the history tracts after it crashed to Earth in its battle with the Ark."

"Yeah, but wasn't the Nemesis constructed in the same manner as the Ark?" Cheetor asked.

"Yeah, but we're using large sums of the Nemesis's own armament," Rattrap cut in as he approached and picked up one of the charges, "That should provide more then enough bang to destroy this hunk of junk."

"That'll blow it apart?" Cheetor asked.

"Anything will blow apart," Rattrap answered, "Some take more force then others, like the Nemesis here or the Ark in comparison to the Axalon and the Darkside."

Setting the charges and the Nemesis's own armaments caches in a position where they would do damage to the Nemesis took another two hours and an extra hour was needed for a series of wires to be laid to a safe distance where Rattrap could destroy the crashed ship without being destroyed with it.

"It's finally over," Optimus spoke a he looked in the Nemesis's direction, "The Beast Wars are finally over."

"I can't believe it," Rhinox commented, "We can step down from doing the impossible every day."

"Leaving this planet in a relatively 'clean' condition," Tigerhawk added.

"And goin' home to where things are much better," Rattrap said with a smile.

"It is an interesting event though," Airazor commented, "The beast wars. It all started over energon and ended up insuring our future as we know it."

"As far as we know," Dinobot corrected, "It may have been our destiny to come here."

"If it isn't destiny, it sure was one hell of a coincidence," Depthcharge commented.

"Wouldn't necessarily be the first time that something like that has happened," Blackarachnia spoke up, "Considering who some of us were originally allied with."

"Yes," Optimus nodded, "but I think a lot of that is shown by their individual personalities."

"Yes," Silverbolt agreed, "And we have all overcome great evil to get here. Now that struggle is over."

"And a good thing too," Squeak added, "Everyone is safe now."

"For now," Optimus sighed, "But we should finish up here. I'd assume that everyone wants to go home."

"Hoo-hoo, I heard that," Rattrap replied and pressed the buttons to ignite the charges and weapons that had been placed.

They then heard a great rumbling in distance that was soon followed by a massive explosion that sent bits of metal flying into the air.

"What about the metal, Optimus?" Cybershark asked, "Do we gather that up as well?"

"No," Optimus sighed, "The Ark doesn't have the room and the remains of the Nemesis should be scattered enough that by the time that humanity finds them and identifies them, they might have already come in contact with Cybertron."

"Hopefully," Rhinox commented, "Although, even if they haven't, they're likely to record it as an unusual metal deposit, but not fully unnatural, as geologically, planets change over time. Earth especially."

"Then let's get back," Optimus said with a smile, "There is still some work to do."

While others moved of at their fastest possible speed, Dinobot deliberately slowed Optimus down. He largely remained silent until the others had moved out of range to hear his conversation with Optimus.

"Yes, Dinobot?" Optimus asked, "Is there something you want sent back here, since you've told us you intend to stay?"

"Actually, there has been a slight change in that regard," Dinobot spoke in a low voice.

Optimus blinked in surprise, but didn't say anything.

"There is nothing to 'rule' here at the present time, and humanity will not be ready to be defended befitting a warrior like me," Dinobot continued, "I would serve no purpose to remain here."

"I take it you now wish to return to Cybertron?" Optimus asked.

"Yes, perhaps I can find a new purpose there," Dinobot answered, "Megatron may be defeated, but our experiences here lead me to believe that the TriPredicus Council is not an organization to be trusted either. And there are colony worlds that are not necessarily one hundred percent safe from outside or 'native' dangers."

"And you seek to work with these colonists?" Optimus asked.

"Or train those who will be defending those colonies," Dinobot answered, "Your elders might accept me better that way if I am offering to help them."

"It might," Optimus replied, "and thank you for deciding to return with us."

"Save the sentimentality," Dinobot responded, "there is still work to be done."

Optimus nodded and took his jet mode and flew off, while Dinobot ran to catch up with the others.

**The Ark, Later**

With the Nemesis destroyed and the Predicons captured, the Maximals set to finish the work needed to allow the Autobot shuttle that they had to leave the Ark. Rhinox and Rattrap focused on preparing the shuttle itself while most of the rest continued to move rocks away from the top of the Ark. One or two were kept on guard duty, but this was only a formality to insure that the captured Predicons were guarded. That took the rest of the day. As the sun set, Rhinox in the hanger where the shuttle had been found flipped a lever that opened the doors above the shuttle. He then looked out through the opening as Dinobot, Depthcharge, Rapther, Cybershark, and Silverbolt began taking the captured Predicons into the shuttle to placed in restraining chairs to keep them from moving. The Predicons weren't happy and their opinion of Waspinator hadn't changed, but that was largely background noise.

"This is really the end, isn't it?" came Optimus's voice as the last of the Predicons were taken in.

"Yup," Rhinox nodded with a smile, "and fairly peaceful end, too."

"In a strange way though," Optimus commented, "I think I'll miss Earth… at least prehistoric Earth anyway."

"It is a site worth exploration and study," Rhinox nodded, "But, it is time we went home. With the transwarp drive, we can always return at some other time."

"Yeah," Optimus nodded, "It's time to go home."

They then walked into the shuttle as the rest of the Maximals boarded. Once everyone was on board, the doors shut while Optimus, Rhinox, Cheetor, and Rattrap took seats in the piloting part of the shuttle. The rest took seats in the area behind them while Optimus and his original crew started up the shuttle's main engines.

"We're going home!" Cheetor cheered as he shuttle blasted off into space, leaving the Ark and Earth behind.

**The End**


End file.
